China showcased its dominance in weightlifting as two athletes successfully defended Olympic titles at Paris 2024 on Wednesday.

Gold medalist Hou Zhihui of China shows her medal during the victory ceremony for the women's 49kg of weightlifting at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, Aug. 7, 2024. (Xinhua/Yang Lei)

Hou Zhihui's resounding comeback in the women's 49kg category became the highlight of the opening day of weightlifting.

The 27-year-old lifted 89kg in the snatch, trailing behind Romania's Mihaela Valentina Cambei, who achieved 93kg. In the clean and jerk, the Romanian lifted 112kg, meaning Hou needed to lift at least 117kg, 1kg above the Olympic record, to secure the gold medal.

Hou successfully lifted 110kg in her first attempt, failed at 117kg in her second, but managed to lift 117kg in her final endeavor to claim the gold.

Hou's winning total was 206kg, just 1kg more than Cambei. Thailand's Surodchana Khambao took the bronze with 200kg.

"I had a belief before the last attempt, I didn't want to miss out on the gold medal, otherwise I would be sorry for the audience cheering for me; fortunately, I didn't disappoint everyone," Hou said. "This was the most thrilling competition of my career. I didn't overthink it, and I just focused on my movements and successfully made the lift."

Earlier on Wednesday, Li Fabin retained his Olympic title in the men's 61kg division.

Li, 31, succeeded in all three of his attempts in the snatch, with his third attempt of 143kg setting a new Olympic record.

In the clean and jerk, Li aimed to lift 172kg, same as the Olympic record, but failed, ending with a best lift of 167kg from his second attempt.

The Chinese veteran's winning total of 310kg was 7kg more than that of second-placed Theerapong Silachai from Thailand.

"I would rate my performance 9 out of 10, the only downside is that my clean and jerk result was not very good," said Li, noting that achieving perfection at the Olympic Games is challenging.

"I had thought about retiring, but the enthusiasm of the crowd today made me hesitant to step away. Even though I'm getting older, I will probably keep pushing forward," he said.

The bronze medal went to Hampton Morris of the United States, who totaled 298kg. The 20-year-old attempted to surpass his own clean and jerk best of 176kg with a lift of 178kg on his third try, but was unsuccessful.

Indonesia's Eko Irawan, the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist, achieved a snatch result of 135kg, only behind Li, but he failed on all three of his clean and jerk attempts.

The Olympic weightlifting event, which includes 120 athletes, runs from August 7 to 11 at the South Paris Arena.

The gold medals of women's 59kg and men's 73kg will be decided on Thursday.

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